


Not Bulletproof

by TufShadow



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25316062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TufShadow/pseuds/TufShadow
Summary: Set between 4th and 5th seasons. Brainy and Nia were on an ordinary patrol, something went wrong and Brainy got shot. Brainy centric fanfic.
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Querl Dox, Kara Danvers & Querl Dox, Querl Dox & J'onn J'onzz, Querl Dox/Nia Nal
Comments: 7
Kudos: 25





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I know that this plot is old as the hills, but I wanted to write something Brainy-centric by my own. It is my first fanfic, but I'll try my best (I think it's never too late to start something new) and I hope you like it. The story is going to be approximately 7 chapters (or parts, as they are not very big), and I'll try to post regularly.
> 
> Also, I should warn you that the story is not properly betaed, so all the mistakes are mine. English is not my first language, so it would be great if somebody wanted to beta this story.
> 
> Kudos and comments are very appreciated! Thank you for reading, and even little feedback would mean the world to me!

It was an ordinary patrol night. Nia and Brainy were walking towards an unfavourable area of National City, while they heard gunshots coming from the fruit store.That late at night only alien-owned mini-market stores were opened. They were often targeted by alien-haters.

“Seems like we have a lucky night!” Nia was buzzing with excitement, she immediately sprinted off toward the door. She was itching to use her power, the last few weeks the city was quieter than usual, the arrest of Ben Lockwood stopped Children of Liberty’s anti-alien crusade and the amount of night crimes significantly lessened since Supergirl’s name was cleared and she could fly around and catch them.

Nia opened the door and saw a robber, a middle sized man in black clothes (typical) and black hat. He was pointing the gun to the owner of the store.

“Put all the money in the bag, or the next one will be into your head!” the robber immediately turned around when he heard the door opening. Nia already was standing inside, her fists glowing with the dream energy. Brainy was just behind her, slowly closing the door.

“Hm, it appears to be an ordinary shop-robbery,” Brainy was calm as usual, his fingers pressed together in his usual manear. “With high probability not even alien-related.”

“Drop your gun on the ground or d… else!” Nia was definitely learning not to shout the life threatening pans to people. Brainy approved.

“Don’t move! Or I’ll shoot!” the robber aimed the gun towards the newcomers. Situation had escalated fast, the robber clearly wasn’t professional. That meant that he was nervous, and nervous meant careless, so he could definitely shoot. Shop owner understood that this was his good chance to escape, while the robber wasn’t looking, so he ducked under the counter and started to crawl to the back door.

“That isn’t a very good idea,” Nia pulled her right hand forward and a glowing-blue shield appeared in front of her. It was extended, it easily protected both her and Brainy who was standing to the left side of her. The shop was only six or seven feet in width, but it was long in depth, and the counter was at the far wall, so there was about fourteen feet between the robber and the supercouple.

“She is right, actually it is the 67 percent probability that the bullet would ricochet and hit you,” Brainy studied the robber, his gun and attitude. In his emotional state the guy’s behaviour was easily predictable, but there is always the chance that the robber would listen to the words of sense. “Instead of us.”

Three shots were fired. After each shot they heard the high sound of the shield reflection. Bullets ricocheted and hit the jar of sweets on the counter, the desk and one of them ripped the black jacket of the robber. He didn’t even notice that. The robber started to back away, to get behind the counter. He tried two more shots that miraculously didn’t ricochet into him. The guy was clearly losing this fight. Then, in the next few seconds, the situation completely changed.


	2. Brainy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here goes the second (or the first, if you don’t count prologue) chapter. The action begins! Every chapter would be from someone's point of view, so let’s see how that goes. I hope you guys enjoy! :)
> 
> Thank you all for the support, kudos and comments, it really matters a lot to me!

Brainy wasn’t planning on doing much in this fight. It was an ordinary human without any superpowers. The best exercise for Nia Nal’s negotiation and stopping the armed man practice. They didn’t do much of that during the training at the Fortress, paying attention mostly to her combat mastery. But Brainy recognised that handling a gunman in real fight is a good skill. Even if almost every time lately it was aliens with superpowers or Children of Liberty with bats. He already noted the mark of the gun, amount of bullets left and probability of the robber firing at them. Which was definitely high. The guy was clearly unstable and new to the case, he was holding his gun pointed at Nia’s chest but Nia’s dream shield had round elements in it, so the bullets would luckily for the robber ricochet not into him directly but slightly to the side. After several more shots his magazine would be empty, and they’ll just take him in. The shopkeeper already called the police, they would be here in 4 minutes 35 seconds. Everything was already calculated in Brainy’s mind.

Then he noticed a little shift in Nia’s posture. She started to collapse to his side, the shield began to fade, and Brainy had only milliseconds to make a decision. She was having a dream, and he knew that she can’t hold her concentration on maintaining a shield and have a dream at the same time. He had time to process only several dosen simulations and chose the most suitable of them.

Turning himself around, he grabbed her by her left shoulder, shielding her from the gunshot. This movement took him only half a second and that was enough to protect her from the flying bullet. Then he heard the sound of this gunshot, but there wasn’t any high pitched sound of the dream shield. His calculations were right.

Nia already started to get out of the dream, opening her eyes in slight confusion. Her sight was unfocused, the typical condition after a premonition. She was clearly not expecting to see Brainy’s face just in front of her. He noted splashes of green droplets on her suit. Several little drops got onto her skin above her jugular. “Nia..,” he wanted to tell her about them but his legs started to fail and he began to collapse to the ground. He closed his eyes to do a quick diagnostic on his systems. 

The result was not good. Apparently the bullet hit him in the back, went all through and exited at the front. He wondered whether the bullet hurt Nia or its momentum was too low so it didn’t. On the path of the bullet was his main artery - on humans a similar one is called an aorta but coluans’ physiology was different from humans. The main problem was that it was ripped right in the middle causing the blood to flow freely out of his chest and back. A very little amount of blood was going to the subsequent arteries - most of the liquid was quickly leaving his body. Without the blood circulation his system is going to shut down very fast. He calculated that he must start the repairing process immediately, while he is still conscious. The priority was the artery that was leaking considerably. At the same time another priority was -

“Nia, the magazine… he has two more bullets left in it…,” Brainy wasn’t sure that Nia heard him, his voice was weak, and he couldn’t comprehend whether even _he_ heard the words, but he couldn’t allow himself to repeat them. His strength was quickly leaving him through those two holes in him. He already lost a significant amount of blood, he definitely should start the repairing process. 

To conserve remaining energy he decided to shut down as many not essential processes as possible. He shut down all of his senses: the taste, the smell, the touch and hearing, there was no use for them now. His mind was immediately consumed by the emptiness that was caused by this absence of senses, but he still could feel the pain in his chest. His main thought should be about repairing. Also, he could feel little needles that started to spread from his toes to the hips indicating that the blood loss began affecting his systems. But that feeling and even the pain were good. The pain meant that he was still conscious, and while he was conscious he could make repairs. _Yes, repair and concentrate. That is what you should do now._

Brainy started with the backside of the artery. With high probability he collapsed on his back, so through the hole in his back blood would be flowing freely. He should concentrate harder to use all his remaining strength - he felt that his energy was leaving him faster than he anticipated. He already lost a liter or so of his blood, and it won’t stop until he patches all of the artery. _Repair...faster._

When he finished repairing the back side of the artery he realised that the needles started to crawl into his arms already. With a sinking feeling he acknowledged that he doesn’t feel his feet at all. But apparently his repairs were working, because he began to feel the burning in his chest that was slowly spreading. Unlike human physiology coluans had in fact receptors inside of their bodies for more accurate internal diagnostic purposes. The burning in his chest could indicate internal bleeding, which is not at all a good sign, but such a quick change in blood flow destination also indicated that the back side of the artery was fully repaired. He tried to push aside bad thoughts and concentrate on remaining injury. He won’t have enough strength left in him to regenerate fully, to repair all the tissue that was ripped by the bullet, but the main concern was the artery. Without such intense blood loss his chance on recovering would be pretty high, considering his coluan endurance. _Almost done… Stay conscious._

His concentration was taking all of his threads of thoughts - all twelve of them, but with the varying degrees of success. He actually realised that these threads started to shut down too, that his mind started to fail in preserving his concentration, and that was definitely not a good sign.

Then he felt the little push to his side, which was strange considering his lack of senses, felt that his nerves were burning with fierce intensity, spreading from the injury in all directions, but he doesn't have any unaccupide threads of thought left to investigate what that meant. And then he received the information about the completion of the healing process. He wanted to check that with a quick diagnostic on the artery but he couldn’t find enough strength in him. With his last thought his final working thread of mind slowly broke down. The last thought was “Nia Nal...”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...that was it! I admit that I don’t know much about medical stuff and how the body works, but I hope that chapter was ok. Also, I’m still looking for beta, if somebody is interested.


	3. Nia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's another one! This chapter is from Nia's POV.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who is reading this! Hope you guys enjoy! Any support is welcommed, comments and kudos meant a world to me!

Nia always hated when this thing was happening. Usually during the fight her dreams give her the quick glimpses of the future, which help her to see the outside view of the battle, next movements of the opponent or other upcoming events. That is different from the dreams which come to her when she actually tries to find out something during the investigations. Those dreams are more diverting and non-correlating with her current reality, but on the other hand they are more deep and symbolic. To have these dreams is like to be plunged into the thick dark water, where all the sensations and expressions aren’t like their real counterparts. All the sounds, smell and even sight are different in the dreamscape, they correspond to the dream she is having, and this shift often gets her disorientated for the first few moments. That’s why she prefers to get them when she is actually sleeping or resting at least - then she isn’t so aware of her real surroundings and that shift isn’t so prominent. 

But here during the robbery, she was having that second type of dreams, the one with full immersion, and it completely threw her out of the loop. She lost her trail of thought, she lost her footing and she definitely lost her concentration on the shield. When she came out of it she felt Brainy’s hand on her shoulder, and saw his face right in front of her. Something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t pinpoint what it was at first.

“Nia…,” he looked at her in a little confusion and then started to fall down. His right hand was on her shoulder so when he collapsed it took some of his weight, slowing down his fall. She was able to come to her senses and caught him before he hit the ground hard. She pulled him down carefully and set him on his back, gently holding his head. His eyes were closed, brows furrowed in deep concentration. Then she noticed a green liquid that was leaking from the little gash in his suit on his chest.

“Brainy! Brainy!” she started to shake him by his shoulders but his body was limp, and she got a zero reaction. She would think that he lost his consciousness, if his face wasn’t so tense.

“Nia, the magazine…,” his voice was so quiet, that Nia barely managed to understand the words. If she wasn’t looking at him searching for _any_ slight reaction she probably wouldn't have heard them at all. “He has two more bullets left in it…”

Nia turned her gaze to the robber who looked a bit shocked that he actually had shot somebody. But his gun was still aimed at them. Nia felt a shiver running down her spine. There was nothing between them and the gunpoint for several seconds. The guy could kill them at any moment. She quickly raised her hand to restore the dream shield.

That got the robber out of his stupor and he pulled a trigger several times, aiming at both Brainy and Nia. The remaining two bullets ricocheted less fortunate for the robber. One of the bullets hit him in the shoulder resulting in his sharp cry of pain. He didn’t stop pulling the trigger but there were only click sounds of the empty magazine. After the final cry, the robber turned around and rushed to the back door, holding his injured shoulder. 

“Not so fast!” Nia formed a whip from her dream energy and caught him around the waist. She yanked him up for five fit above the ground and he fell to the floor hitting the counter with his forehead. He doesn’t move afterwards, but Nia’s attention was already focused on her boyfriend.

Brainy wasn’t moving at all, she couldn’t even see whether he was breathing or not. But apparently he was, because his brows were still furrowed. A small puddle of green blood was forming beneath him, the same was happening with his chest. His blood was red near the bullet wound but as it escaped his body further, the color changed to green. His chest looked like some modern artist splashed the green paint first, and then started pouring the red paint above in the center of it so the red paint began to displace the green one to the edges.

Image inducer is doing this, Nia realized, it tries to mask his wound but as blood leaks away the body the device doesn’t recognize it as a part of Brainy. She quickly pressed both of her hands to the wound trying to stop the blood flow.

“Brainy, do you hear me?.. Hey...” she tried to press harder, the blood flow lessened but the liquide was still dripping through her fingers. It felt hot and wet, and Nia thought that she felt the taste of her own blood, from the biting of her lip. The most scary thing was that Brainy wasn’t responding at all, not groaning in pain, for example, when she increased the pressure, no nothing. Even his facial expression didn’t change.

“Please, hold on, Brainy, hold on, the help is coming...” then the thought occurred to her. _How stupid she was!_ She needs to, _she must_ call for help immediately, not just sit here trying to put the pressure on the wound. The shopkeeper had probably called the police, somebody must have heard the gunshots, but even if they had called an ambulance it wouldn’t help Brainy. He needed special care, special equipment, someone who knew alien physiology. She turned down her sleeve a bit, still putting the pressure on the wound by one hand, opened her Superfriend’s watch and pressed the button. Supergirl would be here soon, and she could carry Brainy to the DEO, where he could be fixed. _He would be fixed._

The waiting was the worst. Her knees were wet from the blood on the floor, she felt the stickiness of her hands when she adjusted her second hand back to the wound. She tried not to think about the green color of her hands. _Green blood._

“I’ve called Kara, she will be here any second, just stay with me, you’ll be alright,” she wasn’t sure who she was convincing, Brainy or herself. Brainy lied still as a corpse, and the silence of the surroundings started to get to her. There was no traffic outside, no people on the street, everything was very quiet. The only sounds were her trying to wake him up, by calling him by his name. But Brainy wasn’t responding niether to her crying for him, nor to her shaking and touching him. He looked very pale, especially considering his usual little tanned skin color. 

She was feeling useless. What was the point in her premonition powers, if she kept getting into situations, where her loved ones were getting hurt? Moreover, this dream today instead of helping her, was the reason for all of this. She was feeling overwhelmed, scared and stressed, tears were running down her cheeks but she couldn’t shake them off, so they flew down and she felt the salt in her lips. 

On the bottom of this her hands started glowing with the blue sparks. It wasn’t time to lose control of her powers. She wouldn’t, _couldn’t_ stop putting pressure to the wound, she decided. Nia already noted the amount of blood on the floor and on Brainy’s chest, and she felt terrified about the quantity of it everywhere. If she stopped, Brainy could lose the essential amount of the life fluid. She just couldn’t let that happen. So she was sitting there on her knees, pressing her glowing hands to Brainy’s chest, hoping that Supergirl would be there soon.

When she heard the _thump_ from Kara's landing outside, she thought that it’s been hours. In reality it was less than a minute.

“Nia, what happened?” as Kara got closer she noticed Brainy on the floor, and rushed to them in worry. “Oh, Rao...”

“He’s been shot. I am trying to slow the blood flow but I’m not sure it’s helping...,” Nia’s tears were dripping freely from her face. Blue sparks were still enveloping her hands, and Nia was wondering whether it was helping to slow the blood. Kara leaned over Brainy and used her X-ray vision to examine the injury.

“It’s strange. Looks like his artery isn’t damaged, but the surrounding tissue and muscles are ripped clean. Is all of this his blood?” Kara turned pale when Nia nodded in agreement. Then she felt Kara’s hands on her own, she was trying to remove them from Brainy’s chest.

“I need to take him to the DEO, Alex will help him,” Nia heard the reassurance in Kara’s voice, and she really hoped that Kara believed in what she was saying. 

“I’ll come back for you, ok?” Nia nodded one more time, she felt that if she tried to speak only sobs would be coming from her throat. She saw Kara gently raised Brainy in her arms and sprint to the door and then upper in the sky. _The fastest ambulance ever._

She rose from her knees, trying not to slip on the green fluid, and stared at the door for several seconds. It was still quiet outside, and the shop looked surreal. Everything happened so fast, but on the other hand it seemed like hours. She realised that she was still in shock and her hands were trembling a little. Then she heard the groan from behind.

The robber was slowly getting to his senses. Nia almost forgot about him, but now her shock began to give way to anger. She came closer to him and put a foot to his back near his injured shoulder. 

“If you move or try to do anything at all, I will use my heels, do you understand?” Anger was boiling inside of her, and she was afraid that she would be able to make her treat come true. The robber nodded slightly, and then got still. 

“I memorized your face,” she was whispering loudly now. “If I see you near any crime scene ever again, you’ll regret it.” She heard the sirens in the distance. Somebody did call the police after all. 

“And now you will be lying here peacefully, and wait for the police to take you in. Or I’ll come back for you.” Nia removed her foot from the guy’s back leaving a green stain on his black jacket. Then she headed to the exit, she wanted to get out of there before the police came. Brainy needed her now, and she couldn’t afford to waste her time on their questions. But she was definitely feeling better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I've got Nia's behavior not much out of character. The last few paragraphs were inspired by the end of 5x15 episode.  
> If you notice any mistakes, there are all mine, as I still don't have a beta. Also I've almost finished writing this story, so I'm going to post twice a week!


	4. Kara

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here goes another chapter! I hope you guys like it! It's Kara's POV. There is some action, and also some of her thoughts about Brainy. 
> 
> Thank you for your kudos and comments, they mean the world to me:)

This was a very frustrating evening for Kara. The article just couldn’t write itself. She had to put a really strong effort to it, but the words still didn’t come. And only two weeks ago her splendid article about Lex helped to save the world. It affected the minds of people on such a scale which Kara couldn’t even imagine and millions of people were moved by her work. And now was that. The great Kara Danvers, the outstanding reporter of the CatCo magazine couldn’t write an article about fashion week. She was truly defeated.

Kara rubbed her eyes and growled one more time in discontent. She specially freed her time for the writing tonight, she even skipped the patrol with Nia and Brainy to finally take time for this terrible article, but it was no use. Words just didn’t come. She had already decided to take a break and watch a movie when she heard the distress signal. It was Nia’s watch.

She quickly changed her comfy fluffy sweater and pajama pants to the Supergirl’s suit, opened the window and flew into the night. The high-pitched signal of the watch allowed her to determine Nia’s position, but high buildings diffracted the sound and sometimes she had to fly in zigzags to better understand the direction. Also she couldn’t fly at her full speed for the sound to be heard. The signal watch was made specifically for kryptonian ears, it shouldn’t have disturbed a lot of other aliens who lived in National City and could have enhanced hearing. But the signal was in fact a sound so it had its limitations. Brainy once proposed to make another alert system, which would rely more on electronics, like cell phones, but after close consideration the team decided to keep the sound system. The simpler the better, less chance of failure. Also the high-pitched sound could wake her up at night when necessary, and she could also use it to determine the location of the watch. Moreover this technology didn’t need any internet or satellite access which might have been unavailable in emergency situations that her friends could encounter.

She was flying over the poor outskirts of National City scanning with X-ray vision the alleyways and small shops on her way. At that time of the night there weren’t any passersby on the streets in that neighborhood, except maybe a few people who were working late. Usually they were skittish and were hurrying to their homes. They were often targeted, so it was common for the team of Super friends to patrol these areas. 

The sound became stronger as Supergirl approached the little fruit-shop near the old metro station. She landed on the pavement and dashed to the door. As she noticed Nia's blue suit inside she quickly pressed a hidden button on her comms to switch off the alarm of the watch and entered the shop.

“Nia, what happened?” The shop was very long in depth but narrow, with a lot of shelves along the walls. Nia was near the far wall and was leaning over someone, her back was turned to Kara. The intense blue glow was emanating from her hands. The ones that she was pressing to…

“Oh, Rao…” Kara finally noticed Brainy lying on the floor in the pool of green blood. He seemed paler than usual and wasn’t moving. Kara hurried to him.

“He’s been shot,” Nia’s voice was trembling. “I am trying to slow the blood flow but I’m not sure if it’s helping…,” she started to shake all over, paninking. Kara understood that she was about to have a breakdown, but Brainy was clearly seriously injured so they had to take action fast. She leaned over him and scanned his injury with her X-ray vision. 

“It’s strange,” she clearly saw the entrance and exit wounds, and the blood vessel between them. But this vessel was whole, without any damage, in contrast to the tissue that enveloped it. “Looks like his artery isn’t damaged, but the surrounding tissue and muscles are ripped clean,” she also noticed some blood inside, but the artery clearly wasn’t leaking anymore. When she stopped her X-raying, her eyes focused on his chest and Nia’s hands, which still were pressed firmly to the wound on Brainy’s chest. They were all sunk in green. Her gaze fell on the pool of blood on the floor. 

“Is all of this his blood?” Kara mentally slapped herself. Of course it was his blood. Who else would have _green_ blood around here? They had to do something really fast, they might not have had much time. Brainy needed to be brought to the DEO, they had the most advanced medical equipment, and the personnel who understood the alien physiology.

“I need to take him to the DEO, Alex will help him,” Kara tried to sound convincing for both their sakes. There wasn’t time to give in to despair. 

Kara slowly took Nia’s hands away from the wound, it seemed that the blood flow had stopped already. She quickly moved to the other side of Brainy and carefully lifted him off the floor. “I’ll come back for you, ok?” Kara clutched Brainy tight as she exited the shop, preparing for the fast flight. She felt the moisture on her right forearm, where it was touching Brainy’s back. When she jumped to the night sky outside she heard the alarms of the police cars coming their way.

Supergirl flew higher and higher, beyond the tall buildings. She didn’t want to fly around them with injured Brainy in her arms. Once Clark warned her that unlike the conscious passengers, unconscious ones can’t hold their limbs and head tight, and quick maneuvers or sudden changes of direction on superspeed could make them break their arms or legs, and most importantly, the neck. Kara didn’t want to cause Brainy any more damage, so the best way for his safety would have been to go up and then choose the direct path to the DEO. Also, she would have flown faster by straight line then around the buildings.

Kara flew high enough and looked down on the gleaming lights of the city. That particular view reminded her about one time she and Brainy were somewhere near here, flying together, when she was showing him her favorite views. It was the first time she saw Brainy expressing his feelings and talking about his life.

That was a year before, just after Mon-El and Imra left to the future. At the time Brainy had sometimes flown with her on patrol, and they had often enjoyed the view of the city from above. Kara liked it there, where all the noises of the big city were transforming to the background sound that reminded her of some long forgotten melody. When she mentioned that to Brainy, as she was showing him where the skyscrapers’ lights were enveloped by less bright lights from the lower buildings, he confessed to her how badly he was missing his time. 

In the future as he had told her, lights of the buildings were different, more vibrant and colorful, and the noises were also more diverse. Usually very reticent about the future, he told her about invisible yet gleaming highways of flying cars winding between distant parts of the city. The bright hovering signals marked the special paths for the spaceships and their cargo drones, the different colors of the marks corresponding to different services. His description reminded her of Krypton a lot. Perhaps that was the reason why he chose to tell her this, because she was familiar with a more advanced world and his depiction wouldn’t have been very unusual to her.

When Brainy was telling her about the night sky of the future she saw bleaks in his eyes, which seemed to be wet. She imagined what she would have felt if she was sent to live a thousand years in the past, flying above the biggest town of that time - seeing only rare little flickering of candles from the windows, or campfires on the streets. She definitely would have missed the amount of the lights during her night flights, and Brainy was probably feeling something like that. And in that moment she was feeling for him - she understood how it felt to be torn from your world and to be left in a less advanced, more barbaric place, where everything was different, even little things. For Brainy that was probably worse - he wasn’t just cut off from his old friends and relations, from his planet, from the _place_ , he was thrown to the different _time_.

Recently they didn’t patrol much together, only two of them, especially for the last few months. Since Nia joined their team, Brainy was very concerned about teaching her to control her powers and patrolled with her, calling Supergirl only as a backup. Also Nia wasn’t able to fly, so the couple often went on patrols by foot. The trio usually used both Kara’s ability to fly and Brainy’s legion ring simultaneously only when they needed to get to the Fortress of Solitude for training. So Kara yet again became accustomed with flying above National City alone. But she would not allow this particular flight with injured Brainy in her arms to be their last flight together.

Brainy’s body felt heavier than she could imagine, considering his build and height, but that was probably because of his techno-organic origin. Kara adjusted Brainy’s position one more time and reached for her comms to notify Alex about the situation. It would be useful to give the DEO some time to prepare the medbay.

“Alex,” Kara was glad that she managed to reach the comms. She started to accelerate along the DEO direction, simultaneously speaking with her sister. “I'm flying to the DEO with Brainy in my arms. He is seriously injured and needs medical help.”

“What happened?” Kara heard the worry in Alex’s voice and imagined that Alex began to take action already. “How exactly is he hurt?”

Kara wanted to tell her the details but had already seen the balcony she used as an entry, so she figured it would be quicker to tell everything on the spot. “I’m almost there.” Kara flew through the open window and straight to Alex, whom she noticed from the outside. Several medics already were near her waiting for commands. Kara quickly went inside the medbay and placed Brainy on the nearest bed, trying not to disturb his injury much.

The med personnel immediately surrounded Brainy, several of them started to pull some med equipment from the shelves. The fuss was tangible and Kara felt Alex’s eyes on her, waiting for answers.

“He’s been shot in the chest and lost a lot of blood,” Kara knew that they needed as much information as possible, but she didn’t know much herself, only the obvious. “A bullet came right through him, I don’t know from which side.” She didn’t even know was he shot at the back or at the front, and she hadn’t thought to ask Nia about that. But Kara didn’t know whether it was really important or not, she knew so little about medical science and in moments like this she always felt useless.

As more med personal came inside the medbay, somebody pushed Kara gently to the side to make room for Alex. She was shouting commands and examining Brainy. Kara always admired how Alex seemed to be so cold-blooded and impassive in the emergency situations, always knowing what to do and how to act even if one of her close friends was hurt. But that made her a great leader. Now Brainy’s life was in Alex’s hands, and even if Kara hated it when she wasn’t able to help, she knew that she wasn’t the only savior there.

Once again Supergirl felt a great relief that Alex knew about her identity again. With that the DEO felt more supportive and safe. And Kara also knew that she could trust their personnel with her safety and the safety of her friends. 

Back then, when she had been working with the DEO she’d never truly realized how good it had felt to have a backup team of operatives if something went wrong, or to be able to use sun lamps for quick recovery, if she got hurt. It was like having a big safety pillow of support, that protected her even without her knowing. When she knew that the government was on her side, she was more confident and calm, feeling the connection to other people who were fighting on her side.

Later she was dismissed from the DEO, and J’onn wiped memories from all the personnel who knew about her and also, more importantly, from Alex. After that Brainy became the only one in the organization who knew her identity. He continued to help her on patrols, secretly using DEO systems for the research or other advantages that they might need. He became Supergirl’s inside agent, who was keeping up with both Colonel Hayley’s and Alex’s current plans and the DEO politics at the same time. She never truly realised how much he helped her this year.

Kara wondered whether this past several months were too hard for Brainy: he was just getting used to this new time and people, but then he had to work as a government agent by day and as a hero by night, and he also started to spent a lot of time training with Nia to prepare her for patrols and upcoming threats. All this must have been very stressful, especially with those anti-alien moods that were getting to him a lot. But he always seemed so self-confident and never asked her for any help. 

Maybe that was because of his time with the Legion - Brainy considered himself as a true legioner, and from the stories Kara heard from him (and sometimes Alex), the Legion wasn’t all about rainbow and roses. The heroes of the future seemed to be very tough, accustomed to the losses and sacrifices. The mission was a great priority for them and saving human life no matter the cost was a common practice. Brainy was so proud to be the part of the Legion and was trying his best to match his title as a hero.

For Kara that was a little strange - for her to be a hero came naturally, she knew that sometimes wearing the cape can be tough but never doubted the decisions she made. Kara just felt what was right and did what her gut told her to do, without second thoughts. But Brainy was different - he always considered the situation very thoroughly and chose action as if he had some superhero manual in his head with which he consulted. Once he told her that she, _Supergirl_ , was his inspiration, that he admired the stories about her, and he was so glad to be able to work alongside her. _The greatest hero of this time_ as he called her. So maybe there was a manual of some sort in the future.

With J’onn having been in search of himself, Alex unaware of Kara’s identity and Nia only in training, Brainy was the only experienced superhero on the close call. And Kara understood how responsible he might have felt. He never told her but she suspected Brainy had tried to find her a new supportive circle after she lost the DEO protection. He started to train Nia just right around this time, and Nia’s participation on their patrols really helped Supergirl a lot. When she was in hiding from the government the thought that someone else could be there on the streets, helping people, comforted her. Also J’onn once told Kara that shortly after she had been fired from the DEO Brainy had come to his new agency and asked him to help and support her. J’onn told, laughing, how Brainy tried to give him a bunch of money for this help, and J’onn barely managed to stop him from doing that. Probably the concept of money wasn’t very common in the future. But Kara understood that Brainy was just concerned about her and she really appreciated that, even if she never told him about it. Maybe she should tell him when he would wake up.

“How long has he been unconscious?” Alex’s voice brought Kara out of her reverie. Some personnel had already left, which seemed to be a good sign, so Kara came closer.

“I don’t know exactly, maybe three minutes?” Kara tried to recall how much time she spent on the flight from the fruit-shop to the DEO, that couldn’t be more than a minute, plus the time that she was inside the shop talking with Nia. Then Kara remembered what she had seen when she got there. “I X-rayed him and I couldn’t find any leaking blood vessels.”

“Ahh, that’s strange,” Alex was preparing to stitch the wound so she needed as much information as she could get. “Are you sure?”

Kara was surprised too, when she saw the wound for the first time, but Brainy was an alien, and an unusual one, so, maybe he has some enhanced abilities. Alex might have known something about them. “I think maybe he managed to heal it? Can he do this?”

“Yes, I think you’re right,” Alex seemed reassured, so Kara relaxed a bit. “He can regenerate, but I’m not sure if he can do it while he is unconscious. I’ll stitch the wounds.”

Kara was glad that Alex chose to do that by herself. Brainy couldn’t get a more caring nurse and Alex seemed confident about what she was doing. Kara glanced one more time on Brainy’s unconscious form on the bed and then she remembered her promise to Nia. The girl was probably mad with worry about Brainy. Kara needed to find her and bring her here as soon as possible. She couldn’t imagine how Nia was feeling now. Brainy wasn’t just a friend for her, he was her tutor, boyfriend and partner, and Kara noticed just how close they became for the last several weeks. She quickly walked to the balcony to fly back and find Nia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit that I really don't know much about how the Superfriend's watch works. I assumed that that was a sound system, I hope I'm right.
> 
> Also, I still need a beta, maybe someone is interested:))
> 
> Any comments and criticism are very welcomed!


	5. Alex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to keep up with my schedule! This time it's from Alex's POV. I hope you guys enjoy it!

The last few days were very slow for Alex. The most meaningful event was an assistance in police stakeout which was connected with some illegal alien weaponry. The police had got it all under control, but for the protocol, they requested assistance from the DEO. All they needed to do was a silent observation, consulting on weapons and providing backup, if something went wrong. But this case at least had some criminals involved, and possible danger for the civilians. In the previous week the most serious case had been, as it turned out, not about alien abduction, but a father taking his kinds to the grandparents on the weekend. Yes, the father was in fact an alien, but he did it for their protection, considering all the alien-hate moods in the big city. Children were half-human-half-alien, and the father took them to the countryside, leaving only a note on the table. The mother hadn’t known about his husband’s true origin and when she found out the truth she overreacted. Alex wished every case was that simple.

The things were so much relaxed compared to what had been happening over the past year: Ben Lockwood with his Children of Liberty, anti-alien moods all over the city, the constant intervention of Colonel Haley, Supergirl being fired, the mind-wipe of her most essential memories, the Elite’s massacres, and at last, Red Daughter’s attack on the president, Lex Luthor’s invasion of America and the concentration alien camp on the Shelley Island. 

Thinking about it more Alex realised why she felt so stressed lately - a lot of stuff that had happened wasn’t just work related. It was personal. It looked like all her circle of friends and loved ones were somehow connected to aliens or events that were happening on a global scale. And sometimes she worried that things could become very dangerous and she could lose them. 

Alex was walking around the command center, thinking about the movie for the next Friday night, when she got a call from Supergirl on the work line. Alex frowned. Supergirl shouldn’t be patrolling tonight, and for private calls they usually used cell phones. It wasn’t a good sign.

“Alex,” Kara’s voice was worried, and that worry immediately passed to her sister. “I’m flying to the DEO with Brainy in my arms. He is seriously injured and needs medical help.”

“What happened?” Alex started to strode towards the medbay, gesturing to the passing medical personnel who were walking in her direction to follow her. “How exactly is he hurt?”

“I’m almost there,” Supergirl flew into the balcony as a flash of wind, slowing down only when she got near Alex. She was holding Brainy bridal style as if he weighed nothing. His limbs were dangling from every slightest motion of her arms, reminding Alex of a puppet doll. His blue legion suit was covered in something green that increased the surreal impression. Supergirl quickly passed Alex and entered the medbay, putting Brainy on the nearest bed. 

“He’s been shot in the chest and lost a lot of blood,” Kara tried to explain everything that she knew about what had happened as brief as possible. “A bullet came right through him, I don’t know from which side.”

Alex started putting on medical gloves and shouting out orders to medical personnel. She quickly unzipped Brainy’s suit, turning him on the side to get him out of it completely. Now she saw both bullet wounds, which were a strange red-green color. There was not much blood under the suit. The wounds seemed to stop bleeding.

“Cathy,” Alex addressed a small brown-haired girl, who wasn’t busy attaching any life-diagnostic equipment to Brainy. “Get here an image inducer suppressor as soon as possible!” She couldn’t exactly examine Brainy’s wounds correctly with his inducer running. 

The rhythmic bips from the medical monitors began to fill the room. Alex exhaled sharply, the first time looking at Brainy’s face, not at his wounds. He was very pale, his facial expression was totally blank, but his pulse was stable even though much higher than normal. Normal for the human standards. They actually didn’t know much about coluan physiology to understand whether that was normal in his state or not. 

“How long has he been unconscious?” Alex’s thoughts were rushing into her head, she tried to make up a plan what to do next. Her medical training kicked in almost immediately, but she still felt a little out of it.

“I don’t know exactly, maybe three minutes?” Kara clearly was trying to help as much as she could, considering her lack of any medical knowledge. Alex had much more experience in that field, even in alien physiology, but all the aliens were different and she wasn’t as a good expert as their mother.

But the first thing they needed to do was clear - they should clean the wound and stitch it as carefully as possible, not knowing what internal organs had been hit, and _what_ internal organs were there in the first place. Kara seemed to hear her thoughts, “I X-rayed him and I couldn’t find any leaking blood vessels.”

“Ahh, that’s strange,” from the amount of blood on the suit the artery had probably been hit. “Are you sure?”

“I think maybe he managed to heal it? Can he do this?” Kara’s assumption reminded Alex of some talk that she and Brainy once had. It was long ago near the time they first met, when he was tending for her broken leg. He had been attaching a very sci-fi future fixator to her leg, and telling her how lucky she was to use it, as it would help to heal the leg much faster than just ordinary cast. He also commented, that unlike humans, he as techno-organic could repair himself very efficiently.

“Yes, I think you’re right,” now everything fell into place. “He can regenerate, but I’m not sure if he can do it while he is unconscious,” Alex started to clean the first wound putting all the distractions aside. “I’ll stitch the wounds.”

Her hands were doing the job automatically, and her mind was wondering about the next step. Could they use the fluids to help Brainy replace some of his blood? They didn’t do enough tests to be sure that it can actually help. His blood was clearly not similar to human’s and the usual saline could make him worse.

Alex sighed in frustration. It wasn’t so uncommon practice for the DEO operatives to donate their own blood for further freezing then to be used if they got hurt. But with Colonel Haley spying around and anti-alien moods inside of the DEO they never had time to do this for Brainy without getting his origin exposed. And for the last two weeks when Colonel Haley left for Washington… that just haven’t crossed her mind.

At first his identity wasn’t any secret at all, especially when everybody had known about the Legion and where Brainy came from. But then as they started to employ new recruits they didn’t actually mention his origin, so a lot of personnel considered Brainy only as a geek genius guy with probably some kind of Asperger syndrome. And after that talk with Haley about a martian being a director of the DEO as unacceptable precedent, Alex didn’t want her to know that her second-in-command was an alien too.

Then things got worse. Following the dismissal of Supergirl they found out that the DEO started to liquidate their alien employees, as Moraes for example, which wasn’t much put to public. Since then they decided to put Brainy undercover, if you can call it that. Agent Dox became his human incognito, he was disguised as human and shouldn’t have been using any of his alien powers at work, and especially near Colonel Haley.

After the mind-wipe it was easier for her not to think about this too much. And now she understood how evasive her mind had been back then. She did know that Brainy was an alien from the future, that he came from the Legion, and that he had assisted Supergirl back then. She also knew that Brainy, J’onn and Dreamer were helping Supergirl on some occasions, and about his patrols over the city. But after the mind-wipe all Supergirl related stuff stopped being Alex’s personal, so this part of Brainy life started to be just his alone. He didn’t mention his relations with Supergirl much and stopped discussing any superheroic stuff that wasn’t related to work. Alex didn’t think about it a lot, and never questioned him purposely. But now she wondered how lonely he had probably felt, not to be able to talk to her about it.

As aliens became more oppressed Brainy no longer mentioned his patrols at all, even when they were alone, probably not to push the matter. At work in front of everyone he tried to act as human, only sometimes she noted his too efficient calculations which could expose him, or his remarks about his previous life with the Legion. He did miss his old times, and she was the only one at work who could understand what he was talking about. 

That must have been difficult for him, she realised, to pretend constantly in front of everyone except her, but on the other hand lying to her face about Supergirl’s identity. His acting skills weren’t very good, but when it mattered he could stand his ground. Also she didn’t feel betrayed when she remembered the truth, but it seemed that Brainy was a little worried about his secrecy. 

A week ago, shortly after Ben Lockwood’s trial, J’onn came to the DEO to discuss the celebration of it at his place. He politely asked how the things were going here at the DEO and also mentioned the support group that he had formed for the aliens who were mentally affected by the horrors of the conservation camp at Shelley Island. Brainy had become stiff after this mentioning, and Alex noticed that his mood changed, getting more nervous and guilty. He offered his help but J’onn politely declined, saying that he already organised everything and he was doing good. After J’onn had left and Alex confronted Brainy about his behavior, he told her that he wasn’t sure that J’onn would fully trust him ever again. He was very concerned about his switch to non-emotional stage and he also mentioned his constant lying to her about Supergirl identity for the last several months.

It took Alex some time to convince Brainy that she totally understood that he and J’onn had to hide this information from her for hers and Kara’s sake, so she wasn’t angry at him at all. Of course Alex knew that she could trust Brainy and rely on him in things that were important. Sometimes she thought in some matters Brainy understood her more than Kara did - that sometimes they needed to make difficult choices when the cost of human lives was involved, and that these choices would not always be easy, but they would be her responsibility as the director of the government organisation. 

She had become really close with Brainy for the last year: from the first months irritation, to the most trusted associate here at the DEO who as second-in-command managed to stop the illicit arrest of the aliens and taking over the DEO by Ben Lockwood while she was on her personal leave. Brainy had become one of her closest friends for this past year and she surely wouldn’t allow him to die of some stupid bullet shot. 

On that thought she cut the thread finishing the stitching of the second wound and gently put a bandage above it. 

This was a little strange to her, to have seen Brainy in his true form since she was more used to his human visage. But now she clearly saw an obvious similarity between his coluan and human display. She shuddered at the memory of nearly shooting him back then, when she first saw his human form. Winn recognised him instantly, why couldn’t she?

Alex quickly checked the other bandage and adjusted Brainy’s head and torso on the pillows. His state didn’t change since he’d got there, which meant that he was stable, but she still was very worried about him. She never saw him sleeping, resting or being unconscious before, and that picture was just so unusual. Brainy always seemed very energetic like a charged battery. He was always on the call if you needed him with his predictions of situations, constant developing of strategies and a giant amount of information on anything that you may need. Yes, working with him was a little irritating at first, for him not having the _ordinary_ social skills and comprehending of some human emotions, but as tech support and strategist he was the best she knew of.

She took off the gloves and left the medbay giving other med personnel to do their work. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Nia near the door, so she walked toward her. Supergirl probably brought her there while Alex was busy and Nia was still in her Dreamer suit.

“How is he?” Nia’s worry was written all over her face, she was clenching and unclenching her fists, waiting for an answer. Alex noticed that her hands and partly her suit were covered in dark-green staines.

“He’s stable, his main organs weren’t hit,” on that Alex looked at Kara, as for the confirmation. “Seemed like he managed to stop the bleeding before he’d got here and repaired the artery, but he did lose a lot of blood, so he needs time to recover.” 

“I... I tried to stop the bleeding, but I don’t think it worked…,” Nia was in clear distress, so Kara gently embraced her. Kara herself was looking a lot concerned, but Alex understood that she was trying to stay strong for Nia.

“We will try and give him some water to help him recover the lost liquid,” Alex swallowed. “We don’t know about his physiology much, but I hope that what we do know is enough.” Then a thought came to her. “Let's do the following. You tell us what exactly happened and then I can show you how to give him water,” Alex knew how it must be terrible for Nia to just wait being unable to help. If she gave Nia the task and purpose, it would be much easier for her to calm down and focus. Also they all needed some sugar. “We have a food vending machine near the corner and a coffee maker. Let’s go and find them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like Alex and Brainy interactions in the 4th season. I think their friendship and partnership are amaizing! I tried to show what I think Alex would feel about this situation, and how she would worry (because I think Alex is the most responsible). I hope they will reconcile in season 6.
> 
> Kudos and comments mean a lot to me! I would like to know what you guys think.


	6. J’onn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for comments and kudos! The support really means a lot to me!

That night J’onn returned late from Al’s bar. He was in a meeting with his old acquaintance researching some clues that he had about his recent investigation. 

It started a week before, when an alien from his support group had shared his concerns about his mental state. He had been afraid that he’d had PTSD and it has been progressing, because after the incident on Shelley Island he began to lose his memories. At first it was fifteen minutes a day, but then it expanded, and by the time of speaking he had lost almost four hours in total. Since most aliens were afraid to go to the hospitals and to get even psych evaluation, the support group was the only place where they could talk about their problems. After the meeting was over, J’onn offered his psychic help to restore the memories. When he tried to do that he discovered that the memories hadn’t been just suppressed, they had been stolen. That led to the full scale investigation, to determine who or what was stealing memories, and how this stealing could affect the minds. Since this investigation was related to both his detective and psychic abilities, he was very drained and usually needed mental rest after a long day of research. Martian special tea and the meditation technique always helped in such cases, and J’onn often used them before he went to bed.

J’onn was just kneeling on a small rug wearing his martian robe, when he heard a cell phone ringing. It was strange to receive calls at the middle of the night, especially when only a few of his closest friends knew his personal cell phone number.

He quickly raised himself from the floor, picked up his cell phone and answered it. “Yes, Alex, what is it?”

J’onn got to the DEO as soon as he could. Alex told him about Brainy and what had happened to him. She reassured J’onn that Brainy was stable and that DEO medics had already done everything possible.

“It’s too early to make any projections,” Alex had seemed a little shaken on the phone, but at the DEO J’onn saw that she didn’t lose her composure. He was very proud. “But his body seemed to be recovering pretty well. I was wondering if maybe you know something about Brainy’s species, that can help us understand his regenerative abilities?”

“I am sorry, Alex," the medbay was J’onn’s least favourite place at the DEO. He didn’t have time to pin his visitor’s beige on the jacket and was holding it in his hand. "I don’t know much. Coluans are rare species around here. But from the stories I’ve been told through the years they could be pretty powerful,” J’onn had never met other coluans except Brainy and Indigo, but they made an impression. “For example, Indigo was not easy to kill, and if Brainy is somewhat like her, a bullet shot shouldn’t be very dangerous for him.” 

“If I understood correctly, he managed to heal most of the damage, but he is staying unconscious,” J’onn was feeling her worry, but Alex should have known that some of the alien-related abilities couldn’t be easily comprehended by humans, even for ones who faced something alien every day.

That was one of the reasons he started working on his own at the detective agency. There he was more connected with the alien community, with the people who understood his problems better than in the DEO. Sure, employees at the DEO were supposed to be more open minded about aliens and more familiar with their abilities and knowledge but that wasn’t the same. Humans who lived on Earth for all their lives couldn’t truly understand the diversity of different alien species, cultures and habits. They couldn’t even imagine the variety of environments where sentient beings could live, and problems they could face. 

A lot of aliens on Earth were fugitives from the distant lost worlds. Whether the reason for that was the war, a disease or a global catastrophe, it was always terrifying and tragic. Among his close friends, except maybe Al from the bar, only Brainy could really understand the immensity of the outer world. They didn’t spend a lot of time together really, but sometimes J’onn had been pleasantly surprised when Brainy mentioned some of the alien species or planets, which they both were accustomed with. Brainy indeed possessed the knowledge about the true universe outside of Earth, that was filled with aliens and politics. J’onn was always glad to share or discuss that topic, even with Kara, who seemed to know something about it, but not so much as he wanted. After all, she hasn’t really left Earth since she was thirteen.

But at that particular moment J’onn should have explained to Alex that Brainy’s current state seemed to be not critical for his species, and they shouldn’t have worried too much. J’onn saw much more miraculous recovery during his long life. 

“I’m sure that he wakes up when his body will be ready. Give him several days at least.” J’onn not only saw a worry in Alex’s eyes, it was radiating from her. He usually tried not to read minds or emotions without the person’s consent, but sometimes when he was distracted or the feeling was very intense, he unintentionally got some glimpses of their emotions.

“Alright, but if he didn’t wake up tomorrow I would like you to try to… check on him with your psychic abilities?” Alex wasn’t fine with the comatose state Brainy was in. This clearly bothered her a lot. But J’onn acknowledged that sometimes body and mind needed the required rest, and he didn’t want to interfere in Brainy’s natural healing process.

Also, he didn’t want to intrude in Brainy’s mind without his permission. On the other hand using J’onn’s abilities to wake Brainy up from the coma would have probably been a morally acceptable thing to do. But J’onn wasn’t sure of what he could find in the Coluan’s mind. There were several reasons why that was too risky. The one of them was that coluans’ minds were much more complicated than the usual ones, with their multiple threads of thought and vast memory banks. J’onn could just become lost in all that flow of information, not to be able to find what he was looking for. Also, since Brainy did have pretty good awareness of his own brain capabilities, he could have put several mental traps inside his head, which could still work even while he was unconscious. 

The other reason was that Brainy’s mind could have parts that J’onn wouldn’t have wanted to see. For example, the one with Brainy’s ancestral memories was among them. He didn’t know a lot about Brainy’s ancestors but he knew how much Brainy was burdened with their crimes and terrors that they had inflicted through hundreds of years of their lives. J’onn feared that if he came across these memories, the horrors of them could haunt him as much as that of his own, about the Last War of Mars. He also imagined that with Brainy coming from another time there could be a lot of information from the future in his mind that J’onn shouldn’t have known, possibly even about his or his friends’ lives and destinies.

“Okay Alex, if he doesn’t wake up tomorrow, I’ll try to do that. Keep me posted if his state changes in any way,” he wasn’t particularly close with the young Coluan, but J’onn developed a fatherly attachment to him, similar to the one he felt towards Alex, Kara and Nia. J’onn wasn't sure about the exact Brainy’s age, because sometimes he could talk about his missions in the Legion that had took him months of preparation, and J’onn had an impression that Brainy could have participated in dozens of missions like that. If J’onn’s understanding was correct, coluans’ lifespan was longer than that of humans, though this fact didn’t mean Brainy was a lot older than he looked like. At least he perceived J’onn as very old, which meant that Brainy considered himself as a much younger person. J’onn also suspected that Brainy’s childhood wasn’t very common, since he seemed to be not very accustomed with the concept of family. So it was natural for J’onn to take Brainy under his wing, and show him how much he and the others of their circle of friends could be supportive and welcoming.

J’onn acknowledged that Alex nodded in agreement and left the medbay. He felt her exhaustion, she definitely needed her well-deserved rest for a day at work. He once again looked at Brainy on the bed, and his gaze drifted to Nia, who was sitting next to him. Nia’s emotions were clearly visible without using any empathic superpowers. She was in the black DEO clothes, probably borrowed from some of the employees. Alex told him that Kara had brought her here straight away after the incident and Nia didn’t have any other clothes except her Dreamer suit. She was gently holding Brainy’s hand in hers. 

That reminded J’onn of the talk with Brainy about love and how it works. Despite the fact that Brainy often showed the deepest knowledge in things that J’onn wasn’t even familiar with, Brainy’s understanding of his own emotions was very uncertain. For more than two hundred years of J’onn’s long life he had never met anyone like Brainy. By perceiving the emotions coming from Brainy he discovered that as much as the Coluan seemed indifferent at times relying mostly on logic and his calculations, he did feel strong emotions inside. They could be even stronger than the ones of an average human, since he didn’t know how to express them. He saw on multiple occasions how Brainy was struggling with his feelings and what they meant from the logical point of view. J’onn decided that the next time they could probably discuss the topic if Brainy really needed his help. 

He slowly walked towards Nia. “Brainy would be OK," he placed his hand on her shoulder. "He is strong,” Nia nodded in agreement, but her gaze was still fixed on her boyfriend. “I’m going to check on him later.”

“Thank you, J’onn,” Nia finally looked up at the Martian, and he saw a gratitude in her eyes. “For coming here.” 

J’onn hoped that his confidence eased Nia’s worry a little. He said his goodbye and slowly walked out of the medbay heading towards the exit. If Brainy wouldn’t wake up the next day, he would try to contact him mentally, but for now he just let him heal on his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I haven’t planned to make a chapter from the J’onn’s POV, because Brainy and J’onn don’t have a lot of interactions in season 4 (and unfortunately in season 5 as well). But then when I was writing the next chapter, I realised that these two could have a lot in common, which hadn’t been emphasized on screen. So I decided to explore this a little bit here. I hope you enjoyed it!


	7. Nia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! This chapter is from Nia’s point of view. The next one will be something like a bonus chapter, so you can consider this as the last one. I hope you’ll enjoy it! 
> 
> Thanks so much everyone who left kudos and comments! The support is everything to me!

Nia had been sitting there for almost three hours. Two cups of coffee that she had taken with her were already gone, but she didn’t want to leave Brainy alone to get a new one, not even for a second. She brought some papers and materials with her to work at the DEO, but she wasn't able to think about anything except unconscious Brainy on the bed and the rhythmic bips on the monitors. Alex had told her that his blood was restoring faster than human’s and he could have woken up soon.

As of the moment he had been unconscious for almost three days. The DEO put him in the recovering ward since his state wasn’t critical anymore. With his image inducer running and all the blankets and pillows he almost looked like he was asleep. He had never looked more like a human. Even when he was wearing his image inducer there was always something extraordinary, something _Brainy_ about him, was it in his posture or demeanor or even in his unusual manner of speaking, she didn’t know. Maybe that was simply because of the way she met him - she had known he was an alien before she got to know him, so he had never been anyone else for her. 

She carefully took Brainy’s hand in her own and squeezed it gently. She was thinking a lot about Brainy’s decision when her shield went off. He threw himself on the bullet to protect her, the most heroic act she could imagine. Her stupid selfless brave boyfriend. Nia was sure that he probably calculated how badly he could get hurt and chose to be injured nevertheless. His constant urge to protect her sometimes was irritating, but on the other hand she appreciated that, and it was so sweet. 

Nia could understand this behavior - she would protect Brainy the same way. But there was a difference - if Nia had been hurt, Brainy would probably blame himself that he couldn’t protect her in time. In the case when Brainy was the one who got hurt, she blamed herself that he couldn’t protect _himself_ because of _her_. She saw how he had fought before - if she wasn’t there Brainy would have never caught a bullet.

That night thoughts about him couldn’t just leave her head: the robber, the gun pointed at them, and her dream shield. Everything was usual, there were no signs for something to go wrong. Her shield protected them both from much more serious threats countless times.

But then the dream hit her, and it was as unexpected as it was meaningless. Nia had been replaying it in her mind for many times, but it didn’t make any sense. The more she thought about it, the more frustrated she became with her powers. It looked like it was stuffed with double meaning and riddles that she had to solve in order to understand the dream properly. And the only person who could help her was there, unconscious. 

Nia squeezed Brainy’s hand one more time. She hoped that one of these times she could feel the responding squeeze from him, but there wasn’t any. Brainy’s face remained motionless.

“You know, John Wick comes out soon,” Nia had always found Brainy’s obsession with Keanu Reeves very endearing especially considering their similar hairstyle. “You promised that we rewatch the first two parts together to be prepared.” 

“Also, you know how I need to train regularly. I didn’t do anything for the last two days, and that may affect my training schedule.” She just couldn’t go on patrols by herself or even with Supergirl, while Brainy was there all alone. Alex often visited him during the working hours, Kara flew there several times while she could, J’onn came yesterday to check on him too, even James dropped by. But Nia couldn’t just leave Brainy there when she was able to spend time with him. She had heard that when people were in a coma they could feel their surroundings sometimes. Also Brainy wasn’t exactly a human. Who knew what was happening in his head at that state. Usually she was telling him about her day at work or her domestic problems with Yvette. But after all the news was spilled her thoughts always came back to the robbery.

“Maybe you could teach me to hold my dream shield properly and this situation never happens again,” Nia decided to make sure of that. She so wanted to yell at him right now for scaring her so much. “You must also help me with the dream I saw. That one promises to be interesting.” She carefully moved a strand of hair from his face. “You’ll like it! I can imagine several interpretations and I definitely need assistance. But you should wake up soon, while I remember the details.” The truth was that she did remember the details pretty good. And she really thought that Brainy’s assistance would be necessary for that dream.

Nia leaned her head on his bed without letting go of his hand and was sitting there just looking at him. Her eyes were slowly closing and she felt that she was slipping into a dream, the usual one without any visions. The last two days she hadn’t been sleeping much.

She was almost out when she felt that something changed, maybe she heard him or felt his gaze on her. Because when she opened her eyes, Brainy was looking at her with a smile on his lips.

“Brainy! You’re awake!” she immediately woke up and pushed her head from the bed.

“Nia Nal,” his voice was hoarse and low, but more distinct than when she heard him last time. “I was wondering, whether you were hurt by the bullet or not.”

“Of course I wasn’t. It was you who’d been shot.” It was unbelievable. He was in a freaking coma for several days, and the first thing he asked was whether _she_ was OK. 

“Never scare me like that ever again! You can’t imagine how I’ve been worried,” Nia embraced him around his waist gently trying not to disturb his bandages. Usually she wasn’t very clingy, but she just needed to feel him close and safe. “Promise me.”

“I can only promise that I’ll try my best, Nia Nal,” Brainy put his arm on her back as a weak return of the embrace in his horizontal position. ”I hope that such a situation never happens again, the probability is really low...”

“That was very evasive,” Nia raised and looked at Brainy with a frown. “Why can’t you just tell me that you won’t jump on a bullet for me again?”

Brainy pushed himself up on the pillows. “Because my decision was not impulsive or rash,” he looked straight into her eyes making sure that she knew he was serious. “I calculated several possibilities and chose the most favorable of them. And I will choose that again.” 

“But you almost died!” Nia couldn’t believe that they had this conversation. Brainy gently took her arm in his and squeezed it exactly as she had imagined before.

“I love you, Nia Nal,” Nia’s heart clenched every time when he told her that. “But my feelings were not the only reason.” He made a slight pause before he continued. “I _know_ that you are a great hero and you are destined for so many heroic deeds. So I can’t let you get hurt,” Nia felt another squeeze. “My fate is less significant.”

Nia freed her arm from his grip. She couldn’t listen to it any longer. She knew that Brainy was in a lot of stress lately and that he was struggling with his behavior on Shelley Island, but that was just too much. 

The last couple of days opened Nia’s eyes on some things that she hadn’t noticed before. People came there to visit Brainy, and they often told her something about him she didn’t know or that just didn’t cross her mind. There were several colleagues from the DEO, but of course, the most conversational ones were their closest friends. They often discussed his character, his injury and how he’d got it. 

Alex assumed that Brainy had probably known the bullet shot would have been less dangerous for him than for Nia, and that’s why he chose to get the bullet instead of her. Alex gave several examples in connection with her work. According to her, Brainy calculated the upcoming events with incredible accuracy and suggested the most harmless scenario of action with zero casualties of civilians and DEO operatives at times when it seemed impossible. Alex was talking about Brainy with such confidence and respect and in that moment Nia realized Alex saw Brainy as a unique associate, as her comrade in arms and as a close friend. She spent a lot of time with him at work and she knew him in a way that no one other could. Since Brainy was proud to be a part of the Superteam, his heroism didn't end when he took off the suit. 

As for Kara, having been a true romantic she believed that Brainy did it for Nia, to protect her from harm. She emphasized that Brainy was so deep into her he just couldn’t have made another choice. She told her as a reference and an example that when she and Mon-El were together, he also tried to protect her from any harm even when his powers were less than the ones of Supergirl. To be a superhero always was risky and all of them knew about that. But the willingness to fight knowing the risk and to protect people knowing the cost, were they just strangers or the people they love, is a display of a true hero. 

When J’onn came yesterday he tried to contact Brainy in his comatose state in order to get to his mind, but wasn’t able to. When Nia started panicking about that, J’onn calmed her down. Although he couldn’t get to Brainy that didn’t mean he wouldn’t wake up. J’onn really didn’t know that much about coluans but he was sure that they were much tougher than average humans. J’onn also told her Brainy was able to create a mental block that could be not easy to break. He reminded Nia how Brainy had cut off several parts of his brain from reaching even for himself on purpose. He managed to do that for his memories or even for his feelings and emotions like he had done on Shelley Island. As for his current state, Brainy had probably put his whole consciousness in such a block shutting down all nonessential systems in order to regenerate properly. J’onn convinced Nia that Brainy knew what he was doing. He had always considered all the odds and made decisions for the better accordingly. But she thought that Brainy sometimes wasn’t so right in his judgement, especially when it concerned his own or Nia’s safety.

“You are significant.” He had to understand that he was as much a hero as she was, and that his life was no less valuable than hers. “Your life is important.”

“Don’t you see how much you have done for the past year? The DEO can’t operate efficiently without you. Alex was worried sick, she has come here several times while I was here, and it wasn’t even in her working hours!” Brainy blinked on her outburst since he clearly didn’t expect it. “Kara and I, we were spending here all our lunch breaks, because we didn’t want you to be alone. You helped us and supported us when we needed it, and you should know that we appreciate it a lot.” Nia felt tears that began to gather at the edges of her eyes. “And it was you who convinced me to become a hero in the first place. You helped me to control my powers and to train, how can you be less important than me?” From what she heard from him she concluded that Brainy considered himself less a hero than both herself and Supergirl always mentioning them with such great adoration. But he had to understand that he was also worthy of the similar regard. 

Nia calmed down a little and moved closer to him gently putting her palm on his left cheek. “I don’t care that you don’t know about your heroic deeds in the future,” Nia felt how Brainy stiffened a little at that. “Because I know that there are plenty, and the fact that you don’t know about them doesn’t mean that there are none. Maybe you just do them without any display.” The thought crossed her mind on that. “For example, you’ve been on superhero duty for a year now, but I didn’t recall any articles about you in the press. Maybe I can write an exclusive?”

Brainy frowned his brows and looked at her thoughtfully, then slowly raised his hand to his face and took Nia’s hand in his again. “We can arrange that,” He paused, considering what she just said. “I hope it won’t create a paradox. But maybe you can take an interview later, because my throat is still sore.”

“Oh, of course!” Nia immediately got up from the chair and hurried to the water cooler, which was standing about two meters from the bed near the door. She put some water in a plastic сup and gave it to Brainy carefully. “Here, you must be very thirsty.”

“Thank you,” he slowly sipped from the cup and cleared his throat a couple of times. “I must ask you, how did the robbery go? I had to shut down all my systems to start the repairing process, so I didn’t perceive anything that happened afterwards.”

“Oh, it was OK. I stopped the robber, and Kara brought you to the DEO.” That wasn’t much to tell actually. She was so relieved that Brainy was alright. “But the dream that I had, I need you to help me interpret it, because it’s very confusing.”

“Indeed. Can you describe what you saw in detail?” Nia could tell that Brainy really enjoyed helping her interpret her dreams. It was a little irritating sometimes, that she couldn’t do it by herself as good as Brainy. But she imagined that he probably had more experience since he had helped her descendant in the future.

Nia put her chair closer to Brainy’s bed, took his hand in hers and began to describe her dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope my Comfort part of Hurt/Comfort was not very angsty 😅
> 
> But Brainy is awake and alright, and that is a plus! Also, I know that John Wick 3 had come out around May 16, and it was a little earlier than two weeks after the last episode of Supergirl 4 season, but we don’t have the exact dates of the events that happen in Supergirl, so let it be 🙂
> 
> I would like to thank Mr. Pointy for his help in correcting an enormous amount of my spelling and grammar mistakes throughout the story. If you found any other mistakes they are all mine of course, because I haven’t found a native English beta yet. If you know how people usually find one, please let me know, because I am new to this, and any advice would be very appreciated! Thanks again for reading!
> 
> Also this is my first story ever and I really want to know your opinion, so if you have a moment or two, let me know what you think! (Even if you don't like it, your opinion would be useful, and I will try to do better next time.)


	8. Epilogue: The Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the bonus chapter! It contains some spoilers for the 5th season. So you should probably watch it first if you haven’t done it yet. 
> 
> It was a pleasure to share this story with you guys, and I appreciate all the support that you gave me!

Everything seemed darker, as usually was in Nia’s dreams. It was like the colors in the dreamscape themselves were dimmer than in real life. Nia heard low music playing in the background and recognized that she was in the bar because of that specific smell of beer and el. 

The place looked almost like Al’s bar with a little difference in interior. The walls were covered with shelves, and all the shelves were stoked with bottles. In fact, bottles were everywhere - on every table and every chair, on the counter and stools. They were all of different shape and color, and the liquids in them seemed to glow brightly. The glittering light they casted on the walls and furniture seemed to form long snake-like shadows. The shadows were moving eerily, swaying on the imaginary sea breeze, their giant tentacles wrapping around the furniture, posters on the walls and lamps on the ceiling. The darkest shadows were lingering above the two people standing near the counter facing each other.

There was a woman - with long dark hair and black eyes, she had a strange resemblance to Brainy, almost like she was his sister. But Brainy told Nia that he didn’t have any siblings. The woman wore a black jacket with some logo on it. Nia couldn’t see what it was from her position, but she was sure that she’d seen the similar jacket before. The other person was even more confusing. This man looked exactly like Brainy, except he wasn’t. His skin was green, hair was blonde and he didn’t have any inhibitors on his forehead. Instead there were two glowing white round circles on his chest and waist.

“You must give up everything and everyone that you hold dear,” said the woman. She said it with a strange emotion, like she was very sorry for what she had to tell.

“Even Nia?” The voice of the green version of Brainy broke on that name. It was so stricken and so similar to the voice of her Brainy, that Nia immediately felt sympathy for him.

The woman nodded not breaking eye contact. “Till the world has been saved. I’m sorry.” 

A soft cry escaped green Brainy’s throat as he exhaled sharply. "I hate it.” He shut his eyes and tears fell from their corners. Then he inhaled stepping back a little. “I’m terrified that I’m becoming a bad guy." His voice held so much emotion, which Nia had never seen in her Brainy, and her heart clenched at that image.

"I believe in you," the woman placed another glowing round object on green Brainy’s chest, similar to the ones he already had there. Then she transformed into the gleaming light that was sucked into that object leaving green Brainy alone. The lights of the objects began to flicker, and it seemed that it caused green Brainy a physical pain. Suddenly the shadows on the walls started to move to the floor and straight to green Brainy, almost touching him with their black tendrils.

"I don’t want to die alone," the face of the green Brainy was so full of hurt and desperation that Nia wanted to run to him and hug him, even if it wasn't her Brainy. But when she moved to him he raised his hand to his throat like he was choking and fell to the floor breathing sharply and deeply. As Nia got closer almost reaching him, the dream started to dissipate losing its features. The surroundings began to swirl around her and she was drawn into the real world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I intended this story to have an open ending. Otherwise if Nia had really seen this dream before season 5 (or at least before episode 5x10) the events of the second half of the season could probably go differently. I can think of a few possibilities. Maybe Nia and Brainy wouldn’t break up. Or they would, but Nia wouldn’t be so certain about the connection between Brainy’s coldness and him taking off his inhibitors. Thus she could have interpreted her dreams during the fifth season correctly. Or they would've just come up with another plan. OK, I really don’t know what would have happened if all the Superfriends (or Nia, at least) had known that Brainy has been working with Lex for their sakes and in order to save the world. But I am certain that this would reduce some pain and heartbreak for both of them. And maybe Nia would save him from that terrible room earlier.
> 
> Thank you all for staying with me till the end! The support, comments and kudos mean a world to me! Also I really want to know what you think, so be free to share your thoughts with me!


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